Countering boko haram insurgency and terrorism: effectiveness of media campaigns

Abstract

This study assessed selected media campaigns and their effectiveness in the ongoing Counter Terrorism and Counter Insurgency Operations in North East Nigeria. The essence of this research was inspired by the renewed onslaught of Boko Haram activities on soft targets, kidnapping school girls, the use of minors for suicide mission as well as a new tactics of forcefully conscripting youths into their fold. The war has been ideological with a surplus application of bullet approach and suicide mission in some instances. War with such parameters needs a more robust approach; a combination of gun and awareness creation to conquer or subdue the spread of the ideology. The research work therefore, sought to examine the impact of the media campaigns in the fight against Boko Haram, its effectiveness in the de-radicalization process. The media patterns and content of media campaigns against Boko Haram were carefully analysed. Discourse analysis and in-depth individual interview methods were employed in the study. The research used data collected from the media campaigns broadcast on radio and television and placed on billboards. The study found that media campaigns mainly portrayed Boko Haram as anti-Islam and emphasised on the need for citizens to be security conscious by reporting suspected members of the sect to the nearest security outfit. Public knowledge on security consciousness has increased. There is clarity of information in the messages and they contained central messages like ‗stop killing, repent and surrender your weapons‘. The media campaigns were mainly in local languages; Hausa, Kanuri and Shuwa Arab. This study recommended that NTA should allocate more airtime free of charge for the broadcast of the jingles and more jingles on de-radicalization should be produced. Keywords: Boko Haram, De-radicalization, Insurgency, terrorism and media campaigns.